A galleta is a cookie, but how would we say cookies in Spanish? Find out in this quiz on making nouns into plurals.

Vocabulary - Making Nouns Plural (1)

This Spanish Easy Review vocabulary quiz takes a first look at making nouns plural.

At this point your Spanish vocabulary list is already quite massive but, for the most part, you have only learned how to say Spanish nouns in their singular form. Like English, words in Spanish are singular as well as plural. In addition, if the noun is plural, it will generally end in the letter 's'.

There are a few rules to follow that will help you to know how to change a Spanish noun over to the plural form.

These rules are as follows.

Nouns in Spanish are made plural by adding an 's' if the word ends in a vowel

señorita (singular) → señoritas (plural)
tío (singular) → tíos (plural)

If the word ends in a consonant, it is made plural by adding 'es'

señor (singular) → señores (plural)
mujer (singular) → mujeres (plural)

When a noun ends in ión, add 'es' and remove the accent mark over the 'o'

avión (plane) (singular) → aviones (planes) (plural)

When a noun ends in the letter 'n' or 's' and an accent mark is in the last syllable of the singular form of the word, the accent mark gets dropped in the plural form of the word and you add the letters 'es'

cinturón (belt) (singular) → cinturones (belts) (plural)

When a noun ends in the letter 'z', the 'z' changes to a 'c' and then you add an 'es'

lápiz (pencil) (singular) → lápices (pencils) (plural)

Below is a list of ten vocabulary words given in their singular format. From the answers below the noun, see if you can locate the correct plural version of that Spanish noun.

perro

perroes

perros

perres

perroies

As this noun ends in a vowel we simply need to add an 's' to make it plural. Therefore, the plural of perro is perros. (Did you remember that perro means dog? Now perros means dogs.)

calcetín

calcetines

calcetíns

calcetins

calcetínes

As this noun ends in a consonant we know we will be adding an 'es'. This means that the second and third answers can be eliminated. As the consonant is an 'n' and the last syllable contains an accent mark, the accent mark gets dropped. Therefore, the plural from of calcetín is calcetines. (Did you remember that calcetín means sock? That means that calcetines means socks.)

computador

computadors

computadories

computadores

computadóres

As this noun ends in a consonant the rule states that an 'es' must be added. This means that neither the first nor second answers are correct. The last answer has added in an incorrect accent mark. The third answer, however, shows the correct plural version of the word computador which means computer and its plural form means computers.

nariz

narizes

narizs

narizies

narices

As this noun ends in a 'z' the 'z' is replaced with a 'c' and then 'es' is added to make the noun plural. The first, second and third answers have kept the 'z' making each one incorrect. The last answer is, therefore, the correct plural form of nariz which means nose and narices means noses.

galleta

galletaes

galletazes

galletas

galletás

As this noun ends in a vowel we simply need to add an 's' to make it plural. That means that the third answer shows the correct plural form of galleta which means cookie and galletas means cookies.

bañador

banadors

bañadores

bañadors

banadores

As this noun ends in a consonant we need to add an 'es'. When a noun contains a tilde, a tilde is never affected by making it plural so neither the first nor last answers are correct. The second answer does show the correct plural form of the word bañador which means swimsuit and bañadores means swimsuits.

pudín

pudines

pudínes

pudíns

pudins

As this noun ends in a consonant we know we will be adding an 'es'. This means that the third and last answers can be eliminated. As the consonant is an 'n' and the last syllable contains an accent mark, the accent mark gets dropped. Therefore, the plural from of pudín is pudines which means puddings.

rodilla

rodillaies

rodilles

rodilas

rodillas

As the noun ends in a vowel we only need to add an 's' to make it plural. The first, second and third answers are all misspelled words. The last answer is the correct plural form of this word which means knees.

tocador

tocadórs

tocadors

tocadores

tocadóres

As the noun ends in a consonant we need to add an 'es' to make it plural. No accent marks are affected when the ending consonant is an 'r'. Therefore, the third answer shows the correct plural form of this word which means dressers.

10.

suéter

sueters

suéteres

sueteres

suéters

As this noun ends in a consonant we will need to add an 'es' to make it plural which means that the first and last answers can be eliminated. The accent mark is not in the last syllable of the word so it is not removed making the second answer the correct plural form of this word which means sweaters.

Author: Christine G. Broome